The Kelly administration plans to seek to halt a decade-long slide in the condition of Chattanooga's roads, Brent Goldberg, chief of staff, told the City Council.
Mr. Goldberg said in the current year $6.3 million was allotted for paving. He said at least $9.2 million is needed to halt the roads decline.
He also cited substantial costs in dealing with the city's bridges, sidewalks, greenways and traffic signals.
He stated, "The The American Society of Civil Engineers reported this year that infrastructure problems cost each U.S. household $3,300 per year.
- Between now and 2039, the country needs more than $13 trillion in investments to close the gap.
- Chattanooga is no different. We face shortfalls and escalating needs across our built infrastructure.
- This presentation will contain some challenging numbers. They convey the magnitude of our task in revitalizing our city’s infrastructure.
- While it is financially impossible to to repave every road and rebuild every bridge, we must have the courage to face our problems if we are to begin to solve them."
He said, "Our roads have been in decline for many years."
In 2010, 49 percent of city roads were rated excellent. That number is down to 19 percent.
The number that are good has gone up from 31 percent to 37 percent, but those that are fair have gone from 13 percent to 24 percent and those that are poor have risen from seven percent to 20 percent.
He said roads are rated using a PCI (Pavement Condition Index) score of between 0 and 100.
- Chattanooga’s current average road condition is 62 PCI across 2,352 miles of local roadway.
- Once a road’s condition drops below a 40 PCI, defined as ‘poor,’ it generally requires significant structural repairs.
- Spending $1 on preservation eliminates or delays spending $6 to $10 on reconstruction.
- Many of the roads with the lowest rating of ‘poor’ are in our most vulnerable communities and neighborhoods. For FY 2021, the City budgeted $6.3 million for paving.
- But to maintain a 62 PCI average we must spend $9.22 million per year just to break even, studies show.
- Without immediate action, the five-year financial gap to maintain existing conditions is expected to triple to $16 million in ten years due to further pavement deterioration and other factors such as street cuts.
- To put this in perspective, reducing the number of roads rated as “poor’ to 0 over the next decade would cost more than $17 million per year, nearly triple the current amount.
- This would raise the average PCI score to 70, and over time would allow more resources to be spent on preservation and less money to be spent on more expensive rehab/rebuild projects.
Traffic Signals
We have currently identified more than 17 intersections that warrant traffic signals.
- New signalized intersections cost approximately $200,000 to $300,000 per intersection, so the anticipated cost to install signals at the warranted intersections is $3.4 million to $5.1 million.
- Current funding levels allow for building one new traffic signal per year, or the repair of 1-3 existing signal intersections per year.
- Signal network - Due to the amount of bandwidth that our existing connected signal infrastructure needs on the City's network, DIT has estimated $4 million to $5 million for proposed network updates.
Bridges
Average bridge age — 46 years
Old pavement is inconvenient, but old bridges are a matter of life safety and economic survival.
? The city of Chattanooga manages 86 structures crossing rivers, creeks, roads, and railroad tracks and budgeted just $400,000 in FY21 for bridge repair.
? Over the next five to 10 years, Chattanooga needs about $120 million to repair our most critical bridges to avoid life-safety impacts to ambulance and fire service.
? Excluding Wilder ($15 million), Wilcox ($30 million) and Walnut ($20 million), all of which have funding plans, we still have a need for $55 million in bridge repairs over the next five to 10 years, in addition to $2 million per year for regular maintenance.
Sidewalks
There are currently 490 miles of sidewalk across the city.
? To add additional new sidewalks to both sides of city streets rated as collectors and above, which includes 25% of our streets, we would need to add sidewalks to 627 miles of our roads. (25 percent of 2,510 miles)
? Using current contract costs for sidewalk construction, or $440 per linear foot, multiplied by 627.5 mi, new sidewalks would cost $1,457,808,000, or about $1.5 billion.
Note: this amount does not include sidewalks on most local neighborhood streets.
Greenways
Residents have asked for additional greenway construction throughout the city.
? East Line
? North Chick
? Northshore
? Alton Park Connector
? University Greenway
? Based on recent greenway construction costs, we would estimate construction of new greenways to cost approximately $3 million to $6 million per mile.
Next Steps
Seek input from the community to ensure that we deploy dollars for maximum impact.
? Examine infrastructure plan through an equity lens to ensure vulnerable communities are not left behind.
? Seek outside sources of funding to help offset shortfalls.
? Analyze use of onetime federal recovery and infrastructure funds to help offset infrastructure shortfalls.
? Revise budget to reverse decades of infrastructure decline.